James Cummings is adamant Anamoe doesn’t need a Cox Plate on his resume to appeal as a stud prospect.
The four-year-old is already Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s equal most prolific Group 1 winner, with six, and was narrowly beaten both on track and in the stewards’ room in last year’s Cox Plate.
But the $5 million Group 1 is a rare opportunity for the son of Street Boss to elevate his already-exalted status.
“This is an absolute top-tier mantlepiece Group 1 we’re talking about, so it would make a difference,” Cummings said.
“But this horse’s stud career is underlined no matter what happens on the weekend, it’s all upside for Anamoe, so from that perspective our guys aren’t under that much pressure with this individual race.
“But this is a race we’re having a red hot go at because if we can win it, it would certainly look good on the stallion brochure.”
With the Australian emphasis on speed, the 2040-metre Cox Plate does not have the reputation of a Golden Slipper or Coolmore Stud Stakes as a stallion-making race, but it has been one of late.
The colts or entires to win it this millennium are Savabeel, So You Think, Ocean Park, Shamus Award, Adelaide, Sir Dragonet and State Of Rest.
Sir Dragonet is no longer with us and State Of Rest will not start stud duties until next year, but most others have had successful stud careers.
Savabeel has won the past eight New Zealand Champion Sire awards, So You Think finished second in last season’s Australian Champion Sire award and is now one of the stars on the Coolmore roster, while Rosemont Stud-based Shamus Award has risen to become one of the country’s hottest stallions.
Ocean Park stands alongside Savabeel at Waikato Stud in New Zealand and has thrown stars including multiple Group 1 winners Tofane and Kolding.
The easy decision for Godolphin would have been to retire Anamoe at the end of his three-year-old season, with Group 1 wins in an ATC Sires’ (1400m), Caulfield Guineas (1600m) and Rosehill Guineas (2000m) enough to justify a hefty service fee.
But the decision was made to race on, one he justified with Group 1 wins in the Winx Stakes (1400m), George Main Stakes (1600m) and The Might And Power (2000m) to start his four-year-old season.
“It’s a pretty special record that the horse holds and hopefully by keeping him in training we can continue to build on that record,” Cummings said.
“Sheikh Mohammed enjoys challenging his horses, he’s not shy of pressing on with a horse at an older age and it’s given us the opportunity and every other breeder in the country the opportunity to see just how good how Anamoe is and I hope they’ve enjoyed the last three starts.”
Cummings could not be happier with barrier four for Anamoe, who will be ridden by James Mcdonald, in the Cox Plate and he has described his lead-in as ‘perfect’.
“This preparation he’s just put three beautiful weight-for-age Group 1 wins together, so he’s perfectly set up for the Cox Plate,” Cummings said.
“The preparation, to this point, has been perfect and the past two weeks couldn’t have gone better.”
